Dispute over York police station continues

Wednesday

Jan 15, 2014 at 2:00 AM

YORK — The police station project was expected to go back before the Planning Board on Jan. 9, and then on Jan. 23, but it now appears slated to be on the agenda sometime in February, according to the Planning Board and town manager.

Susan Morse

YORK — The police station project was expected to go back before the Planning Board on Jan. 9, and then on Jan. 23, but it now appears slated to be on the agenda sometime in February, according to the Planning Board and town manager.

There is nothing keeping the project from going forward other than architect SMRT having a delay in getting the materials together, according to Town Manager Rob Yandow. SMRT project engineer Andrew Johnston is working on the plans for an expected Feb. 13 meeting with the Planning Board, he said.

That meeting is expected to be for sketch review, meaning the town would be looking for feedback before submitting a formal application.

The Planning Board in 2012 approved construction of the $6.8 million station and gave preliminary approval for the $1.6 million road, but withdrew all endorsements after environmental issues arose over the over-cutting of trees and the stockpiling of debris in a vernal pool buffer.

This year, the stalled project has remained an item of contentious debate among members of the Board of Selectmen. Chairman Ron Nowell has said the project cannot go back before the Planning Board until a boundary line dispute is settled with York's Wild Kingdom.

Yandow said this is not the case, as the town has a valid survey and the issue of the boundary disagreement can be settled at a later time.

Clarification of the boundary dispute is among five issues that need to be addressed at sketch review, according to a Jan. 9 memo to the Planning Board from independent, third-party reviewers for the project, Lee Jay Feldman of the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission and Steve Bradstreet of Ransom Consulting Inc.

The Planning Board chose to hire independent reviewers for the town project when it came back before them, rather than placing a town employee in that role. Feldman and Bradstreet are replacing, for this project, Town Planner Christine Grimando.

At the Jan. 9 meeting, Planning Board members addressed the delay and a memo, dated that same day, from Feldman and Bradstreet. Chairman Todd Frederick said board members could not discuss the actual project as it had yet to come before them as an application.

The Jan. 9 memo stated that Johnson agreed he would submit revised plan information to be heard on Jan. 23. Issues included the survey, the communications tower, access onto Route 1, project management representation, and the ordinances and submission process, according to the memo. However, at the Jan. 9 meeting, Bradstreet told the board he did not believe Johnson would be ready for the Jan. 23 meeting.

The memo outlined five issues that need to be addressed at sketch review: accounting of "how we got to where we are today with the project"; an explanation of the restoration plan and the amended Department of Environmental Protection permits allowing the work; clarification of the boundary line dispute; clarification of the jurisdiction as to what items are being reviewed regarding wetlands, floodplain and site plan; and, the expense for the third-party reviewers.

The Community Development Office is covering $12,000 of the expense, according to the memo. The consulting contract is $31,690 with the applicant covering the difference of $19,690, it said.

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